As we finish out this year, many will celebrate the Holiday Season with a trip to their local house of worship or that of a family member or friend. I can still remember those frosty, Midwestern trips as a boy to celebrate the midnight services on Christmas Eve.
It is an exciting time as many congregations make their best efforts to be warm and welcoming to infrequent or out-of-town guests. I am reminded of a quote by a well-known minister, Andy Stanley, who said,
“The sermon begins in the parking lot.”
In other words, the power and the message of our hospitality reflects our beliefs as much or more than the sermon itself.
It may seem like an unrelated fact, but did you know that churches are large consumers of coal tar sealers? The stuff that the American Medical Association says should be banned and is a risk to children and the unborn?
Because of this, I would like to offer this friendly amendment:
“The sermon begins ON the parking lot.”
Nothing says more about your what you believe than having a safe, non-toxic surface to cross on your way to worship. It is a form of hospitality. When you invite someone into your home, you should do what you can to make it clean and safe. It wouldn’t be welcoming to have a party when your home was condemned or when someone was very sick in the home.
Here’s what I mean. My daughter once went to play at a friends house. I stopped by to pick her up. I was immediately accosted by the smell of aging pet excrement. Then after observing trip hazards and a wobbly ceiling fan above her head, I was convinced that my baby girl was never going there again.
In the same way, inviting your visitors to cross a toxic surface,which is akin to be exposed to second-hand smoke, is unacceptable. It is like walking your children through a narrow corridor of cigarette smokers or across shards of glass. If your visitors knew about the science and the risks, as many do, and you asked them to cross that wretched landscape to learn about “loving your neighbor,” how many do you think would return?
Jesus criticized the religious leaders for not offering him basic hospitality of the day like washing his feet, or giving him a kiss. They didn’t care enough about his needs to meet them. I would also say that many churches don’t care enough either to know about the harm caused by coal tar sealers or do anything about it.
Three kinds of churches
Experience has taught me that in general churches fall into three categories when dealing with coal tar sealers:
1. Proactive
2. Intransigent
3. Uninformed
1. Proactive
After the District of Columbia passed their ban of coal tar pavement sealers, the congregation of Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church resealed their parking lot. They took their choice of a non-toxic alternative to educate their congregation about the choices they were making and why a ban was taken up by the local government. They were informed and proactive…a model for others.
2. Intransigent (aka, “unchanging, stiff-necked”)
A long time reader and a concerned educator recently went to her North Carolina church maintenance committee. She heard they were getting ready to decide what maintenance they were going to do for their church parking lot. The use of coal tar based sealers was the approach they were looking to use.
She presented a summary of the science on the problems with coal tar sealers. They were apparently as interested as the cast iron figure pictured here.